Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Lutherans Persisting now inactive
Dr. Michael Root has announced that the Lutherans Persisting blog is at least temporarily inactive because his duties call him out of country. He notes that the blog may not be re-activated upon his return. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Root and Dr. Yeago for their comments into the latest troubles to beset the ELCA. Their comments have been a source of valuable insights for me and for many others. I hope that the blog will become active once again upon Dr. Root's return.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Church and culture
I've been powerfully reminded on more than one recent occasion of the truth of Lyle Schaller's remark that the Church is is wonderful shape today -- if today is 1954.
The life of the Church is always in tension between two poles. One one hand is the great Tradition of the Church, and many of the traditions of the local congregation as well. On the other hand is the ongoing need for the gospel to be proclaimed in terms that to some degree are understandable to the culture in which the Church resides. Cultures differ, and the Church necessarily takes on something of the cast of each culture. Similarly, individual congregations not only have their own traditions, they also reside in a specific community and take on some of the characteristics of that community.
But what happens when the Church does not adapt to changes in the larger culture? What happens when the local congregation does not adapt to changes in its community? I strongly suspect that when the Church does not accomodate cultural changes to some degree, when the local congregation does not change to reflect the changed needs of its community, that both run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant. And that for me is a serious concern.
A serious concern, because the Church must be grounded in the world view provided by scripture or it will cease to be the Church. The world view of scripture is normative for our Christian living, and yet the world view of scripture is increasingly different from that of our changing culture. I might even suggest that the world view of scripture is radically different from that of our culture.
Both the Church as a whole and the local congregation live on the margins of culture and the local community. To paraphrase Stanley Hauerwas, congregations are colonies of the Kingdom of God. And that gives both congregations and the larger Church of which we are a part a perspective that the culture itself does not - and indeed cannot -- have. Size does not matter -- Christianity seems to thrive as a minority. What matters is Christ, the Word of God, and the world view of the Kingdom of God that He came to proclaim. What matters is that the good news of God continues to be proclaimed, even when the culture or the local community -- or sometimes portions of the Church itself -- has trouble hearing it. Or doesn't want to hear.
The life of the Church is always in tension between two poles. One one hand is the great Tradition of the Church, and many of the traditions of the local congregation as well. On the other hand is the ongoing need for the gospel to be proclaimed in terms that to some degree are understandable to the culture in which the Church resides. Cultures differ, and the Church necessarily takes on something of the cast of each culture. Similarly, individual congregations not only have their own traditions, they also reside in a specific community and take on some of the characteristics of that community.
But what happens when the Church does not adapt to changes in the larger culture? What happens when the local congregation does not adapt to changes in its community? I strongly suspect that when the Church does not accomodate cultural changes to some degree, when the local congregation does not change to reflect the changed needs of its community, that both run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant. And that for me is a serious concern.
A serious concern, because the Church must be grounded in the world view provided by scripture or it will cease to be the Church. The world view of scripture is normative for our Christian living, and yet the world view of scripture is increasingly different from that of our changing culture. I might even suggest that the world view of scripture is radically different from that of our culture.
Both the Church as a whole and the local congregation live on the margins of culture and the local community. To paraphrase Stanley Hauerwas, congregations are colonies of the Kingdom of God. And that gives both congregations and the larger Church of which we are a part a perspective that the culture itself does not - and indeed cannot -- have. Size does not matter -- Christianity seems to thrive as a minority. What matters is Christ, the Word of God, and the world view of the Kingdom of God that He came to proclaim. What matters is that the good news of God continues to be proclaimed, even when the culture or the local community -- or sometimes portions of the Church itself -- has trouble hearing it. Or doesn't want to hear.
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